An important industrial solvent, used in the manufacture of lacquers, plastics, smokeless powder; for dewaxing lubricating oils; for dissolving acetylene for storage; for dyeing cotton with aniline black; and as a raw material in the manufacture of other chemicals. It is a colorless, flammable liquid with a mintlike odor and is soluble in water and in ether. The composition is CH 3 CO CH 3, specific gravity 0.790, boiling point 133 F (56 C), and solidification point -137 F (-94 C). Acetone is mainly produced as a by-product in the cleavage of cumene hydroperoxide into phenol. A secondary route is by catalytic dehydrogenation of isopropyl alcohol.
Diacetone, or diacetone alcohol, is a colorless liquid of composition CH 3 CO CH 2 COH(CH 3) 2 with a pleasant odor. It is used as a solvent for nitrocellulose and cellulose acetate, for gums and resins, in lacquers and thinners, and in ink, paint, and varnish removers. Because of its low freezing point and miscibility with castor oil it is used in hydraulic brake fluids. The specific gravity is 0.938, boiling point 331 F (166 C), and freezing point -65 F (-54 C). Synthetic methyl acetone is a mixture of about 50% acetone, 30 methyl acetate, and 20 methanol, used in lacquers, paint removers, and for coagulating latex. Dihydroxyacetone, a colorless crystalline solid produced from glycerine by sorbose bacteria reaction, is used in cosmetics, and in preparing foodstuff emulsions, plasticizers, and alkyd resins.
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